Italian ministers and European Union officials gave a cool reception to a proposal by Matteo Renzi that Italy flout the EU’s fiscal rules for the next five years. Renzi, proposed Italy should run a stable budget deficit of 2.9 percent of gross domestic product for five years instead of trying to lower the deficit towards zero. Source Reuters
The US State Department on Oct. 20 widened the scope of sanctions against the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline and warned companies involved in the final installation that they face sanctions if they do not wind down activities within 30 days. Source Spglobal
Whether or not S&P Global Ratings downgrades Italian debt this week is a coin toss, according to Deutsche Bank AG.
“We think it’s a 50-50 call as both an unchanged outlook as well as a downgrade could be justified,” wrote Ioannis Sokos, a strategist at Deutsche, citing S&P’s outlook criteria from April. Source Bloomberg
Gazprom supplied 2.3 bln cubic meters of natural gas to China over the Power of Siberia gas pipeline in January – August 2020 after the deliveries started in December 2019. Daily gas deliveries from Russia to China over the Power of Siberia gas pipeline were above contractual commitments for the first time on Monday, Gazprom said. Source Tass
